Friday, August 6, 2010

No Wimpy Wines While You're Having Flies

Does anyone else remember the old Frog's Leap slogan "Time's Fun When You're Having Flies!"? Or how about the much more well-known Ravenswood "No Wimpy Wines" tag-line?

Imagine those two slogans were thought up today instead of 20 years ago. The pervasive nature of social media would get those out to perhaps millions of people in the span of a few short months. Tweeting, re-Tweeting, Facebook, Myspace, and Tumblr would broadcast a brand's tag-line to even the most casual of wine searchers. But, would the brands grow as fast in say a year or two as they have over the past 20+ years?

In Ravenswood's case, their slogan was printed on basically everything, short of babies. Back then, it was a little edgy, a bit of a thumb of the nose at the establishment even. Ravenswood drinkers demand their wines be big, bold, juicy, full of flavor...Does that remind you of anyone today? Can we draw any parallels to the wine market as it stands at the present day?

Frog's Leap went the cuter, friendlier route. We all giggled a bit at the clever wordplay but still, the intent was to get that brand into the consciousness of wine drinkers. Frog's Leap wanted a positive memory association which would then hopefully spark the person standing at the wine section of their store to think: "Oh that's the winery with the funny slogan, I like them!" and buy a bottle. I should note that the original slogan appeared many, many years ago in a one panel cartoon. I suspect the saying has been around even longer, but the point is that Frog's Leap seized on a great way to generate brand awareness.

Both seem to have worked because Frog's Leap and Ravenswood are still viable brands, producing some stellar wines and some more modest examples. The average wine drinker knows of each brand, both are poured by the glass at all kinds of restaurants and most wine stores carry them. It's entirely reasonable to call them each a huge success.

So then, if a winery today comes up with a phrase like Ravenswood's or uses a cute one like Frog's Leap did, can social media act as a brand awareness multiplier? Take a phrase that is easy to remember, plaster it on everything you can, short of babies. Engage people/users (paid or not) to use social media in all it's forms to mention your brand to their friends/followers. The way you present the slogan or tag-line and the phrase itself will get talked about over and over. At least some of that chatter will make it past the subject-focused people using social media and leak into the mainstream-brand-conscious population. Your brand will capture their attention too, further increasing awareness which ultimately results in more sales.

I think if you do each of those steps, and produce quality content (wine, in this case..get the pun!), your market will basically create itself. Therefore, my answer is a resounding yes, social media can and will work, imagine what would have happened to the two brands I've mentioned had they had access to such tools two decades ago. It's working right now with a few brands. That's perhaps saved for another post though.

3 comments:

First of all, you have hit the nail on the head. Social Media DOES indeed create Brand Awareness viraly; much quicker than in the days when those slogans were first born. Back in the day they created their band awareness very well albeit much slower than nowadays; mostly with catchy slogans and word of mouth. Social media gets it out into the mainstream MUCH quickly.

Secondly, there is NOT one industry or field that social media marketing will not benefit or have an adverse, positive impact on. I am seeing social media marketing get more and more exposure in the wine industry. I'd say in the last six months alone, I have seen it quadruple in use by wineries to get the word out on their wines. Some are doing an amazing job while others either do not know how to use it to its full potential or perhaps don't have the time to put into it. This will slowly start changing.

As always another great post. I like the fact that this one threw marketing and social media to the mix since marketing and social media affects EVERY industry.

Interesting post. Being in the industry, you're probably exposed to a lot more taglines in catalogues and with reps. Do you have a phrase associated with any of the wines you regularly drink? Your post made me think, and I can't think of of a catch phrase from any of my favorite wineries off hand.

I may be alone in this but taglines are some of the last things I ever think about in relation to wine. Then again, I (and my fellow wine friends/bloggers/etc) are considerably more advanced than the median wine drinker. That person might respond more to common advertising tactics like taglines and catch phrases.

So to answer your question, I cannot think of any tagline or catch phrase from my favorite wines. I know what the wines are, where to get them and how much they'll cost, and that provides enough information to make a buying choice. Wine and advertising fascinate me though, I really would like to get into that side of the industry at some point.